As I walked into RHB 42 for my interview, I was greeted with pieces of orange paper scattered all over the table. Ms. Keller was gluing orange colored silhouettes into a notebook while listening to a true crime podcast. As I greeted her, she sarcastically told me she was “clearly doing, you know, so much physical hard work here.” I then sat down and asked her my first question. 

Ms. Keller comes to Westridge this year to teach both Photography and Painting & Drawing. Before arriving at Westridge, she taught photography, drawing, painting, and three dimensional design at Alverno Heights High School.

Ms. Keller has a big passion for art. She loves that art is transformative and versatile because it helps her make sense of the world. Her goal this year at Westridge is to “breathe a little bit of new life into the photo program” by inspiring creative risk taking. 

According to Ms. Keller, her first day at Westridge could be described with one word: intense. After a few weeks, she has begun feeling a lot more comfortable. “Everyone has been so generous and kind, especially my colleagues, and the students have been really sweet,” she said.

Not only is she an art teacher but also a roller derby coach. She started coaching roller derby 11 years ago as a way to build community and is currently the head of the training team for the Junior Derby Dolls. On the weekends, she coaches girls from the ages of 7–17 how to play the full-contact sport with wheels on a banked track. “It’s exhausting. It’s also really empowering because it’s like, girls don’t have a lot of full contact sports, you know?” Ms. Keller said. 

Some of her favorite things at Westridge are the breakfast burritos and spirit assemblies. “[I like] these kinds of all-school events where everyone gets really fired up,” Ms. Keller said. She hopes to attend at least one sporting event of every sport. 

Ms. Keller also loves to hike in her free time. She even told me that she had her hiking clothes and was going to change to go hiking after school. She loves being out in nature, especially waterfalls. 

Ms. Keller is ready to take on the school year, supporting her students while inspiring creativity in the classroom. Ms. Keller said, “And there’s a lot more opportunities [at Westridge] in terms of like, not just sports, but really being able to focus on different things, and that’s exciting for everyone here.”